Product Development

Hi folks! Welcome to our April Cloud Native London meetup! Join us to hear from our three great speakers and network with your fellow techies over pizza and drinks, or alternatively chat and following along on Youtube or LinkedIn! 6:00 Pizza and drinks 6:30 Welcome 6:45 From "Trust Then Verify" to "Verify Then Trust": Securing the AI-Accelerated Software Supply Chain (Meghan McGowan, Cloudsmith) 7:15 Keeping Up: Testing in the Age of AI and Cloud-Native (Ole Lensmar, Testkube) 7:45 Wrap up See you there! Cheryl (@oicheryl) **From "Trust Then Verify" to "Verify Then Trust": Securing the AI-Accelerated Software Supply Chain (Meghan McGowan, Cloudsmith)** With AI accelerating code generation and GitOps driving continuous deployments, testing is under more pressure than ever to keep up. Ole will take a step back to see what’s driving the evolution of testing as adoption of Cloud Native technologies and AI for code generation attempts to drive velocity through the roof. How can engineering and platform teams deliver on the need for continuous testing as a scalable approach to quality assurance across the enterprise? And how can DevOps teams leverage AI in testing pipelines for root-cause analysis, automated remediation and intelligent test scheduling - to help push the AI-infused velocity of their dev teams all the way into production? *Ole started building with XML APIs in the late 90:ies and has since then worked with multiple technologies and startups, most notably as creator of SoapUI in 2004 and Chairman of the Swagger / OpenAPI Initiative in 2015. He joined Testkube at its inception in 2021 and is now entirely focused on ensuring its success at bringing continuous testing to the cloud-native space. When not at his laptop he can be found playing a guitar or riding a bike, but rarely both at the same time.* **Keeping Up: Testing in the Age of AI and Cloud-Native (Ole Lensmar, Testkube)** AI has made software teams faster than ever, but it's also quietly outpacing the security and infrastructure built to support them. Drawing on findings from Cloudsmith's 2026 Artifact Management Report, a survey of 505 engineering practitioners across technology, finance, healthcare, and retail, this session examines the compounding challenges that come with near-universal AI code adoption: expanded attack surfaces, hallucinated dependencies, fragmented AI model governance, and the growing operational tax of manual security remediation on top of aging infrastructure. The session moves from data to diagnosis to direction, challenging teams to rethink a foundational assumption — that you can trust code first and verify it later. At AI scale, that posture is no longer safe. Attendees will leave with a clear picture of where the industry's most critical gaps are, how their peers are investing in 2026, and three concrete questions they can bring back to their own teams to identify where to act first. *Meghan McGowan is Principal Product Marketing Manager at Cloudsmith. Before joining Cloudsmith, Meghan spent nearly a decade in the cybersecurity industry focused on security integrations and automation, helping teams operationalize tooling that actually fits their workflows.* *Based in London, she also worked closely on how threat intelligence can be applied to meet specific regulatory requirements, particularly NIS2 and DORA, giving her a grounded understanding of both the technical and compliance dimensions of modern software security.*
 *About Cloudsmith: Cloudsmith is a fully managed, cloud-native artifact management platform that gives engineering teams a single, secure source of truth for all their software artifacts: packages, containers, binaries, and AI/ML models. Built for the scale and speed of modern software delivery, Cloudsmith provides universal repository support, automated security scanning, and policy enforcement at ingestion needed to meet today's compliance requirements.* *[https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-mcgowan-4b6bb81b/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-mcgowan-4b6bb81b/)* ***Check out [https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon](https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon) if you're interested in speaking or sponsoring.***

Our acclaimed Wednesday workshop returns - we'll be looking at Lorca's classic drama exploring fate, passion, and societal expectations. A bride elopes with her former lover on her wedding day, triggering deadly consequences. Rich in poetic symbolism and folk traditions, the play confronts love’s destructive force and the inevitability of death and honor. We will be working towards A FULL PRODUCTION in April 2026.. If you'd like to get involved email: actinggymnasium [at] [gmail.com](http://gmail.com/)

\*\*\*This meetup is currently on hiatus until we arrange a new local meetup\*\*\* (Please do not sign up for this meetup at this time.) Everyone's invited to play at the Red River Cafe at Heartlands (http://www.heartlandscornwall.com/) in Pool, Cornwall. The event is completely free to attend. If you're a game designer or are interested in helping to test out brand new games, then please come along. If you'd like to bring a game prototype along then please provide some basic details of the game in the comments below and we'll do our best to spread the word in advance for you. e.g. name, premise, a rough duration and no. of players required. Free parking is available. By car, you can access the site via Dudnance Lane (which is off of the main crossroads, just off of the nearby A30). Take the turn by all of the traffic cones, signposted for deliveries and disabled parking, then park in the lay-by next to the Cafe.

Join us at SalsaTrain for a fun-filled evening of dancing and learning the art of salsa, suitable for all levels! SalsaTrain is in its 5th year now. All aboard! The SalsaTrain every Weds @ the Selhurst Railway Club in South London right by Selhurst Train station. Salsa classes every Weds night from 6.30-11pm. The classes are fun & interactive with Dominic Insta(Salsa_Legend) with over 20 years salsa experience, and Trish with 10 years teaching experience. Dominic's style is Predominately L.A. on 1/ cuban fusion. He was placed 1st in the Tropicana Tropics World Open Salsa Championship (Ama Division) 2003, has performed with a team of dancers at the 2005 UK salsa congress and placed as runner up in the European Open Salsa Championships (Cab 2007). He has also performed at the Scandinavian Salsa Congress 2009 in Sweden; as part of a team at one of the New York Salsa Congresses and instructed for many salsa promoters within the UK and Internationally. During lockdown, Dom launched his weekly music show "Sundown Salsa Live" on Mixcloud and has played regularly on OSSR radio every Friday 10am-12pm. Trish teaches the beginner class and has had experience teaching with another Salsa Group. All lessons (45 mins long) include party. No partner necessary. Free stop - 6.30-7pm Bachata Time (Music and Dance for 30 mins). There will be Bachata Tasters - (Beginners steps - 30 mins - Subject to change). 1st stop - 7-7.45pm Beginners & Improvers 2nd stop - 8-8.45pm Improvers plus level 3rd stop - 9-11pm - PartyTrain Social dancing Homeward Bound 11pm £10 for 1 class, £12.50 for 2 classes, £5 for party only. Early bird tickets for beginners Salsa class only for £8.50 & for 2 classes including party train for £10.00 inc Eventbrite fee available until 6.30pm each Tuesday - 24 hours before SalsaTrain. Boarding from 6.30pm. Get your tickets via [www.latindianevents.com](http://%5Bhttp://www.latindianevents.com%5D(http://www.latindianevents.com) "\[http://www.latindianevents.com\](http://www.latindianevents.com)") which leads to the following eventbrite link - [[https://salsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk/](https://salsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk/)]([https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsalsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk%2F&data=05%7C02%7CA.Kapadia%40mdx.ac.uk%7Cfdc1b99d8569432c544008de4ebfb677%7C38e37b88a3a148cf9f056537427fed24%7C0%7C0%7C639034782480290305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bK7omfXlIt1Thr9F%2BZ4ZzCfdEWF9B27DChx7%2FsEcOIU%3D&reserved=0](https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsalsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk%2F&data=05%7C02%7CA.Kapadia%40mdx.ac.uk%7Cfdc1b99d8569432c544008de4ebfb677%7C38e37b88a3a148cf9f056537427fed24%7C0%7C0%7C639034782480290305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bK7omfXlIt1Thr9F%2BZ4ZzCfdEWF9B27DChx7%2FsEcOIU%3D&reserved=0) "[https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsalsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk%2F&data=05%7C02%7CA.Kapadia%40mdx.ac.uk%7Cfdc1b99d8569432c544008de4ebfb677%7C38e37b88a3a148cf9f056537427fed24%7C0%7C0%7C639034782480290305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bK7omfXlIt1Thr9F%2BZ4ZzCfdEWF9B27DChx7%2FsEcOIU%3D&reserved=0](https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsalsa-train-selhurst.eventbrite.co.uk%2F&data=05%7C02%7CA.Kapadia%40mdx.ac.uk%7Cfdc1b99d8569432c544008de4ebfb677%7C38e37b88a3a148cf9f056537427fed24%7C0%7C0%7C639034782480290305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bK7omfXlIt1Thr9F%2BZ4ZzCfdEWF9B27DChx7%2FsEcOIU%3D&reserved=0)") (WE ALSO ACCEPT PAYMENT BY CARD ON THE NIGHT) You will be refunded or have your ticket transferred to another night providing you inform either of the contacts below by 7pm on the day you are coming. More info please contact Abs 07507634241 or Dom 07939587944 Venue details and information. Selhurst Railway Club is a stones throw from Selhurst train station - well connected by London Victoria, Clapham Junction and East Croydon. Upon arrival please press the buzzer and wait to be let in. You will need to show your pre paid ticket on your phone & asked to give your details to the club management. You will then be escorted into the room to board the SalsaTrain. The venue has a fully stocked bar at extremely reasonable prices & crisps, nuts. It is a very spacious venue and has a very comfortable feel with great wooden floor for dancing. All aboard!!!!

**👉 [SPACE IS VERY LIMITED, PLEASE REGISTER [HERE](https://luma.com/3no3so3p)]** Join us for the Global Unveiling of the [Official 2025 FoodTech 500 Ranking](https://forwardfooding.com/foodtech500/), hosted by Forward Fooding in London, one of World's most vibrant global AgriFoodTech Hubs. Also dubbed as ‘*The Fortune 500’ of the AgriFoodTech sector*, The FoodTech 500 is the world's definitive list of global entrepreneurial talent at the intersection of food, technology, and sustainability. Since 2019, it has become the most recognised and trustworthy ranking of AgriFoodTech companies, and a true benchmark for the industry. This exclusive event offers a unique opportunity to delve into the latest innovations and trends shaping the AgriFoodTech sector. As we reveal the top companies driving change and sustainability in AgriFoodtech, you'll gain invaluable insights into the future of food and agriculture. This gathering is not just about celebrating achievements; it's a chance to connect with industry leaders, innovators, and like-minded professionals who are passionate about transforming our Food System. Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, F&B Corporate Executive, or simply curious to deepen your knowledge about the future of food, this event promises to enrich your understanding of the AgriFoodTech Innovation landscape and expand your business network. Don't miss the opportunity to contribute to this pivotal moment for the AgriFoodTech world, as we release the Official Ranking of this year's FoodTech 500. ​For the second year in a row, we will have the pleasure to be joined on stage by our FoodTech 500 sponsor pladis, who will present the second edition of their [Accelerator Programme](https://www.pladisglobal.com/our-impact/pladis-accelerator-programme), powered by Yıldız Ventures and supporting early‑stage companies building the next wave of cleaner, healthier and more sustainable snacking solutions. **Agenda & Speakers**: **17:00 - 18:00** \- Doors open \- Networking & Live showcasing of innovative products and technologies by UK FoodTech companies **18.00 - 18:15** \- Welcome & Intro \- by Alessio D'Antino\, Founding Partner & CEO \- [Forward Fooding](http://forwardfooding.com/) and event co-hosts [ScaleSpace](https://www.scalespace.co.uk/) & [Bezos Centre for Sustainable Proteins](https://bezoscentre.co.uk/) ​**18.15 - 18.30** \- Unveiling the Official Ranking of the 2025 FoodTech 500 & 'State of the Art' of the Global FoodTech Sector \- [Forward Fooding](http://forwardfooding.com/) **18.30 - 18.40** \- Announcing the Official 2025 FoodTech 500 Sponsor \- by Tim Ingmire\, VP \- Global Innovation & Technology \- [pladis](https://www.pladisglobal.com/) **18.40 - 19.30** \- Learn from Entrepreneurs \- Companies presentations \+ Q&A with a selection of international companies form the [FoodTech 500](https://forwardfooding.com/foodtech500/): -Zoe Yu Tung Law, Co-Founder & CEO, [New Wave Biotech](https://newwavebiotech.com/) -Thijs Bosch, CEO, [The Protein Brewery](https://theproteinbrewery.nl/) -Olga Sukhman, VP of Operations & Marketing, [AKA Foods](https://aka-food.com/) -Suzanne Robinson, Chief Commercial Officer, [Kyomei](kyomei.co.uk) *More speakers to be announced soon* **19:30 - 21:30** \- Networking & Live showcasing of innovative products and technologies by a selection of FoodTech 500 companies\. ​**Event Co-hosts** The **[Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein](https://bezoscentre.co.uk/)**, supported by the Bezos Earth Fund, drives the sustainable food revolution and advances microbial food innovation through cutting-edge science, advanced fermentation technologies, and strategic collaboration.​ ​\*\*[ScaleSpace ](https://www.scalespace.co.uk/)\*\*is a launchpad for innovative businesses looking to scale, a dynamic community, born from a unique partnership between **Blenheim Chalcot** and **Imperial College London**, bringing together the best of industry and academia to support the businesses of tomorrow. This event is also run in partnership with **[Global Tech Advocates](https://www.globaltechadvocates.org/),** the only truly international grassroots tech community, uniting the private sector in multiple cities and regions worldwide. We look forward to seeing you there as we taste and discuss the future of food! ​ The Forward Fooding Team

**Join our monthly men's sauna + circle at Hackney Wick Community Sauna Baths.** We meet at the Sauna reception at the back of the Bath House. **Schedule** * 6-7pm Sauna + cold plunge * 7-7.15 Change * 7.15 Meet at the cafe, grab a snack if needed * 7.30 Move to the circle venue (5 mins walk) * 7:40 Sharing circle starts * 9.40 Sharing circle ends **⭕ What is a sharing circle?** In this 2 hour session, you will join a men-only space focusing on personal development, social connection and emotional growth. This is led by a professional facilitator and is in confidence, without interruption or advice. It’s an invitation to talk through your personal development edges, listen to other men do the same, and work through them together, as a team. **🔒 Circle Agreements**: * Sobriety * Confidentiality * Non-judgement * Honesty * Presence * All emotions welcome * Compassion **Benefits** * 🔥 All the **health** benefits of a sauna * 🧠 Train your **emotional intelligence** \- to understand yourself and others\. * 🏋️ Strengthen **mental** **fitness** \- to regulate yourself and build your tolerance\. * 👂 Practise **authenticity** and **communication** \- to improve your relationships\. * 🌍 Belong to a **social** **community** \- for **motivation** and **accountability**. * ♂️ Meet and **socialise** with like-minded men in London. 🎟️ **Tickets** *YOU MUST BUY A TICKET BEFORE ATTENDING* £40 [Grab your ticket here](https://form.typeform.com/to/n4a7od7z) We typically attract between 15-24 attendees per event, most tickets are sold directly from within the WhatsApp community so if there are no/few people RSVPd on this event, it does not mean people are not attending - there is always a base of around 10 spots that go instantly in the WhatsApp group. **📱 WhatsApp Community** Once you've bought a ticket, you will be invited into the WhatsApp group for the monthly event and our wider personal development community.

Its Springtime, and the gardens and landscape are bursting into life! To celebrate this in our digital world, 3D London has partnered with ITOOSOFT, the makers of ForestPack, to bring you an evening of 3D horticultural inspiration. **Headline Presentations** * **Paul Roberts**, Training and Content Manager - ITOOSOFT "The Craft of Parametric Thinking" https://www.itoosoft.com/ * **Karen Gazzard**, The Ruby Cube. "How I have taken the skills learnt in arch-vis and applied them to a different industry - visualisation for ecology." https://therubycube.com/ **First-time Presentation** **Alesandros Vounatsos** \- Alvo Headquarters Production Company "Presenting his short film, produced in Blender". https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandros-vounatsos-aa3b3175/ The ITOO team kindly sponsored April's meetup. Thank you! Thanks to our sponsors for supporting our monthly meetups. **[SiNi Software](https://www.sinisoftware.com/)** , **[Chaos](https://www.chaos.com/) , [ITOOSOFT](https://www.itoosoft.com/) , [NTI](https://www.nti-group.com/uk/) , [Heata](https://www.heata.co/)** #3dlondon #monthlymeetup

Join fellow product people at The Product Group London on **Thu 2nd April** for an evening of learning, sharing and networking. **Topic of the Night: Product Outcomes Over Outputs** Product management is changing to be much more focused on achieving quantifiable outcomes over outputs and hitting dates. So how do product people make the shift and stay in the outcomes lane? On the night, we’ll explore what this really means incl. the important outcomes to focus on; making the culture shift to outcome focused; adjusting success metrics; using outcomes to drive product strategies, roadmaps, discovery and delivery; getting stakeholders onboard with a different way of thinking, and much more. **Featured Guest: Phil Hornby, Global Product Lead, ZF Group** Phil is a product leader, coach and technologist with over 20 years of experience across SaaS, IoT and Automotive. His career has spanned development, sales and operations, but product management is where he found his home, focusing on solving complex customer problems with scalable solutions. Today, Phil works as Global Product Lead at ZF, leading a tier 1 commercial vehicle diagnostics platform. As a senior IC, he works across multiple product teams to shape cohesive products that combine commercial thinking with deep technical expertise. He also founded a ZF community of practice to connect and grow digital product professionals. Alongside his ZF role, Phil continues to coach product leaders and teams, having supported thousands of individuals across hundreds of companies. He is known for helping people think clearly, make better decisions and take action that drives real impact. Phil is also a regular speaker and co-host of the Talking Roadmaps podcast. **About The Product Group London** The Product Group London is a monthly meetup designed to bring product people of all levels together for topical discussions, as a group and with our guest speakers. With attendees from startups to large enterprises, there is no shortage of opportunities to network and make new connections. And whilst the focus is on product management, we welcome product designers and engineers to join for some friendly and lively discussions. **A word about our sponsor and host, BrainStation** [BrainStation](https://brainstation.io/london) is a global leader in digital skills training, empowering businesses and brands to succeed in the digital age. Established in 2012, BrainStation has worked with over 500 instructors from the most innovative companies, developing cutting-edge, real-world digital education that has empowered professionals and some of the largest corporations in the world.

Welcome to our second London meetup of 2026, where we discuss Gen AI and Kubernetes! Details below: **Location:** Civo Tech Junction, First Floor, 32-37 Cowper St, London EC2A 4AW **Time:** Doors open at 6PM **Drinks, snacks, talks, and networking.** We’re excited to invite you to our second in-person **DevOps Society Meetup** of 2026, proudly **sponsored by Cast AI**. This event is focussed around Gen AI and Kubernetes, with two really exciting speakers lined up for this one in Carly and Kunal. Format of the Meetup: 6:00pm – 6:30pm — Networking on arrival, with food and drinks provided by CastAI 6:30pm – 7:10pm — First speaker + Q&A 7:10pm – 7:20pm — Break for refreshments and networking 7:20pm – 8:00pm — Second speaker + Q&A 8:00pm onwards — More networking at the venue, then at a nearby pub. *Timings can vary slightly depending on Q&A.* We’re excited to welcome everyone to our next DevOps Society London meetup, where we’ll be diving into two incredibly relevant topics in modern infrastructure: observing GenAI applications in production and optimising Kubernetes clusters. We’ll be joined by two brilliant speakers from the ecosystem who are working at the forefront of developer tooling and cloud infrastructure. As always, expect a relaxed evening of technical learning, discussion, and networking with fellow engineers from across the London tech community. *** ## 🎤 Speaker 1 - Carly Richmond **Developer Advocate Lead @ Elastic** ### Observing AI Applications with OpenLit and OpenTelemetry Observability is the ability to measure the current state of a system. With the rapid emergence of LLMs and GenAI applications moving into production, teams now need deeper insight into how these systems behave in real-world environments. In this talk, Carly will explore best practices for observing production AI applications, covering how engineers can capture logs, traces, and metrics to better understand how LLMs interact within their application ecosystem. She’ll walk through a real example of instrumenting an AI agent application written in TypeScript, using OpenLit to generate OpenTelemetry signals. The session will show the types of telemetry data teams can capture to identify usage patterns, detect errors, and troubleshoot issues commonly seen in production GenAI applications. ### About Carly Carly Richmond is Developer Advocate Lead at Elastic, based in London. She’s a UI developer who also writes backend services, a keynote speaker, and a tech writer who is passionate about helping developers build better systems. Outside of tech, Carly enjoys cooking, photography, drinking tea, and chasing after her young son. *** ## 🎤 Speaker 2 - Kunal Kushwaha **Senior Developer Advocate @ CAST AI** ### Optimizing Kubernetes and Unlocking Blockers with Container Live Migration Kubernetes promises automation, yet most clusters run at around **10% CPU utilisation**, leaving large amounts of infrastructure sitting idle. With endless instance types, constantly shifting prices, and the complexity of modern workloads, maintaining efficient clusters can quickly become a full-time job. In this talk, Kunal explores the real-world challenges teams face when running Kubernetes in production. He’ll cover where Kubernetes automation works well, where it falls short, and why optimisation remains difficult for many teams. Topics include: * Why most Kubernetes clusters are underutilised * The realities of autoscaling in production environments * Challenges around instance types and Spot capacity * Common mistakes teams make with HPA and VPA Once these challenges are laid out, Kunal introduces Container Live Migration as a way to overcome some of these long-standing blockers. To bring the concept to life, he’ll run a live technical demo where Pods running a small video game are migrated across nodes in real time, while the audience participates. The game continues running without downtime, demonstrating how live migration can improve cluster efficiency without disrupting workloads. Please register below to secure your spot. Spaces are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. We’re really looking forward to getting the community back together again for our first event of 2026. [Our slack community](https://join.slack.com/t/devopssociety/shared_invite/zt-3mswuylw7-MhJg1IZ70rX_GpJTluG2Cw) \- join in and introduce yourself\! [Our Youtube Channel ](https://www.youtube.com/@DevOpsSociety)for regular podcasts with DevOps professionals + more DevOps content. [Website](https://thedevopsociety.com/) [To partner with us](https://thedevopsociety.com/partnerships) CAST AI website - https://cast.ai/ Thanks! From the DevOps Society team [Ben](https://www.linkedin.com/in/benwhitmarsh/) and [Vytas](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vytasdevops/)

We playtest all sorts of games - strategic, silly, creative, or whatever. Some games are almost done. Some are very early ideas. We test anything that will fit into 90 minutes. You don't need to bring a game - we always love to have new playtesters! Please let us know in the comments when you plan to arrive/leave and whether you are bringing a game or not. This helps us to plan the day better. The schedule is: 10am onwards - gathering, chatting 11am sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 1') 12:30ish - break for food/chat 1pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 2') 2:30ish - break for food/chat 3pm sharp - playing for 90 min ('slot 3') 4:30ish - finish up Often, we might hang around afterwards, to play some already-published games. We are strict on timings, so please try to arrive a few minutes before the session to limit disruption. You can just come for part of the day if you wish. The reason we have fixed timings for the 3 'slots' is to make it easier for folk to do so. Designers of all levels of experience are welcome! But if it's your first time, we ask that you don't bring a game and just spend some time learning how the group works. The group works based on reciprocation. If you expect to test your own game, make sure stay for long enough to play other games. As a general rule of thumb, you can expect to play one of your own games every third 90-minute session. So if you stay a whole day (3 sessions), you can expect to have one session to play your game(s). A good rule of thumb is that if you come all day, you will have one 90 minute session with two other playtesters in which to test your own games. It is sometimes possible to test games with more players. If your game requires 4 or more, please note that as standard you will be allocated half of a session (45 minutes). Pre-covid, we were getting unmanageable. As a result, we may have to limit attendees. This is a free-to-use venue, and we have to be mindful that other folk want to use the same space. Please note: This is an adults only event. We look forward to seeing you!

We are excited to announce our upcoming Spring Community Showcase. This event is an opportunity for individuals at all skill levels to come together and share their experiences with Rust. Whether you’re working on a personal project, contributing to an open-source initiative, or teaching a concept related to Rust, we invite you to present your work and insights. Take this opportunity to build your confidence and share what you are doing. Speakers === If you would like to give a presentation, please send Ernest a direct message with your talk title and a brief abstract of approximately 60 words. Each presentation will last about 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for questions and answers, for a total of 30 minutes. We have four slots available this month. **Dan Groshev** Okmain Library: You have an image, but you want a colour How do you pick a colour that represents an image but also looks good? Dan will talk about his Okmain library, colour science, auto-vectorisation, SIMD, and his experience building it in Rust and PyO3. **Jérôme Étévé** Mockapot: A percolator library in Rust Jérôme is the author of the Mokcaccino library, which started as a way to marry my interests for Rust and for search technology. He will discuss the design, the tricky aspects of Rust he learned along the way, and how Rust and Python complement each other. **Evadne Wu** JavaScript Sandboxing using Deno on top of Elixir & Erlang/OTP. Intelligent AI agents can write code that calls existing APIs in secure sandboxes, allowing higher token efficiency, better performance, and lower per-turn latency. Deno’s primitives in Rust can be integrated into such an agent harness, utilising the Elixir programming language and the Erlang/OTP runtime, which allows you to construct agentic systems that are massively concurrent and fault-tolerant.

Thank you to everyone who has joined the Agentic community so far and thank you to those who attended the launch event in January! Its exciting times as we now gear up for the 2nd meet up of the year once again hosted by the wonderful team over at Vorboss LTD! We have a stellar line up for you again so please RSVP and join us on 1st April! **Odhran O'Donoghue \| Co\-Founder & CTO @ Magentic** **Making AI with Enterprise-level Reliability** Making AI work in critical business use cases requires superhuman-level reliability. Achieving this with AI is non-trivial, and even advanced developers can find themselves chasing the wrong paths to success. This talk covers how to build genuinely reliable generative AI to meet the needs of the world's largest customers, drawing from learnings on real-world deployments covering billions of dollars in spend. Odhran O'Donoghue is CTO of Magentic, the AI agent platform for the world’s supply chains. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, used across a range of Fortune 500 manufacturers. Odhran has previously worked with OpenAI and NASA, and led research at the Francis Crick Institute - Europe’s largest scientific centre. **Anastasia Kundush \| Head of Product @ Alpic** **Beyond the Chatbot: rethinking user flows in the agentic era.** Imagine apps that live directly inside ChatGPT or Claude. Instead of clicking buttons, you interact with agentic interfaces. We'll examine novel use cases where models seamlessly adopt complex roles and merge interactive visualizations with conversational insights. You'll learn how to design for this new paradigm and what doesn't work. Alpic provides the infrastructure and tools to turn your product into an AI-native experience. Our all-in-one MCP hosting platform offers easy one-click deployment, as well as MCP-specific evaluation, analytics, authentication, transport and security. A huge thank you to Odhran and the team at Magentic for sponsoring pizzas and also a big thank you once again to Vorboss for hosting and supplying drinks for all attendees on the night :)

***Enter the live meeting room here: [https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u](https://discord.gg/5wgxtr4c2u)*** ***Download the engine here: [https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download)*** Welcome to the **Unreal Engine Workshop!** In each session we'll tackle essential game design discussions, then transition into hands-on project creation. Participants will build and expand their skills continuously as we explore every aspect of game development. From basic blueprints and interactive mechanics, to advanced rigging, animation, environment design, and lighting, we'll work our way up to creating small complete games. We encourage experimentation and peer teaching, so whether you're a beginner or experienced developer looking to deepen your expertise, our sessions provide a supportive environment to learn, create, and innovate together in Unreal Engine 5.

This is a live session at The Mitre in Greenwich. Please note that Katie Lumsden will be hosting this session. (katie.lumsden@googlemail.com) Please send extracts and address any queries directly to her. Also, please mail her when you sign up unless you are sure that she already has your e-mail address. The purpose of this meeting is to provide and receive critique on submitted extracts of members' creative writing, whether they're working on a novel, screenplay, poetry, a memoir or short story, etc. We share our extracts via email ahead of the meeting to give us all a chance to read the work in our own time and reflect upon it so as to be able to provide useful critique. If you want to submit an extract mail me at gpatrick66@hotmail.com to book a slot. If you are new to the group we ask that you participate in at least two of the Wednesday critiquing sessions before you submit work for review so that you get to know us and have a good understanding of how we operate. This will help you to get the most from a critique of your own work. Extracts should be approx 3,000 words and the full document (extract plus blurbs, questions etc) should not exceed 3,500 words in total. Extracts must be mailed to Katie Lumsden (katie.lumsden@googlemail.com) at the latest by 9pm on the Saturday before the session so that she can share your work with the rest of the group. We have a limit of 4 extracts per session to give adequate time to review work properly. Feel free to give guidance on any specific areas on which you would like feedback. E.g. Plot, pacing, structure or character development etc. (If you have not received the extracts by the Sunday before the session, mail her.) The group is friendly and relaxed, so please don't feel nervous about sharing your work! We will normally review extracts according to the order in which they are sent to me but if you need a particular slot let me know when you submit your extract and we will try to accommodate that. Please note that all phones MUST be switched to silent mode for the duration of the meeting.

Pay attention! We’re delaying a week for those of you who may be on Spring break and/or celebrating the holiday. Ok, no pancakes, but waffles-a-plenty. Join the local UX and Digital Design community for a casual monthly breakfast. Look for us upstairs!

Columbus Code & Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. People of all skill levels attend, and we love it that way. Many people (optionally) bring projects to work on, and many other people (optionally) socialize the entire time. It's entirely up to you! **What to Expect at the Intro Circle** \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Near the beginning of the event (1:30 pm), we do a standup: * Organizer announcements, updates, and logistics Round 1 - (7 secs max): * Your name * What you're working on * What you can help others with Round 2: * Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. Round 3: * Job opportunities you're hiring for OR announce that you are looking for one. If none, that's cool. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized! Feel free to work alone, pair up, attend one of our workshops/presentations, or mingle!

**The Data-Driven Brand: Using Analytics to Shape Perception** Can you use analytics to improve tacos? This being CBUSDAW, we think the answer is probably “yes”, but we’re not sure how to implement or test this theory. For our April meetup we’ve got Sara Kear, CMO of Condado Tacos, to investigate this delicious question. Sara will explore how she blends quantitative data and qualitative customer feedback to shape brand positioning and drive business decisions. We all know that marketing and analytics go way beyond attribution. Sara will show how Condado uses customer insights to inform product and pricing strategy. She’ll also highlight how Condado leverages customer feedback at scale to influence operational priorities, positioning marketing as the voice of the customer across the organization. In the last 12 years Condado has gone from one location in Columbus to 52 locations across 10 states, so we’re guessing there’s more to that growth than really good guac (though the guac probably helps). Ultimately, this talk focuses on the intersection of art and science—using data to inform creativity and build a brand that resonates with customers in a measurable way. **About Our Speaker** Sara Kear is Chief Marketing Officer at Condado Tacos, where she oversees brand, restaurant design, menu and pricing strategy, off-premise including catering, and customer data strategy. Since joining in 2021, she has helped grow the brand from 19 to 52 locations while building a data-driven marketing organization focused on loyalty and customer insights. Condado has since been named to the Inc. 5000, recognized as Breakout Retailer by Chain Store Age, and consistently ranked among FastCasual’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

**PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT NOTES:** 1. The dates for this series are simply placeholders at the moment. We are working on our 2026 schedule, and adjustments are forthcoming. 2. Each class in this series has an attendance fee. 3. Each class, from BOTH a sign-up and fee perspective, is a separate entity. 4. As the Etch toolset evolves, so too will the class outline below. **Introduction:** Our Site Building with Etch class provides detailed instructions on the philosophy of the Etch development framework, as well as in-depth, hands-on instruction on using the Etch environment and associated tools. Anyone familiar with Kevin Geary and the Digital Gravy set of products will tell you that they offer ground-breaking approaches to professional WordPress site development. As we write this, the Etch toolset and environment are rapidly taking shape, with weekly quantum leaps forward in WordPress development methodologies. As early investors in the Etch product offering and its development process, we are actively testing and evaluating the toolset as it takes shape. We are beyond excited to see how WordPress site development is being modernized, and can't wait to bring this course set to you. It will be a paradigm shift in page and site development within WordPress, as well as moving your development mindset light-years forward. Join us as we explore Etch and dive deep into development approaches that will genuinely elevate your craft as a website developer and agency provider. Scalable, responsive, compliant websites are now within easy reach, and Etch provides both the platform and toolset to take you there. **The breakdown of the 10-class series is as follows:** * Class 01 - TBD * Class 02 - TBD * Class 03 - TBD * Class 04 - TBD * Class 05 - TBD * Class 06 - TBD * Class 07 - TBD * Class 08 - TBD * Class 09 - TBD * Class 10 - TBD Throughout the class sessions listed above, we cover the following key areas of web development with Etch: * **Introduction to Etch Interface:** * Familiarization with the toolset's layout and understanding how to navigate and interact with its various components. * **Visual Site Building:** * Techniques for creating layouts using Etch's interface, incorporating sections, divs, containers, and elements to build semantically correct page structures. * **Styling and Design:** * Utilizing Etch's styling approach to customize elements, apply global CSS classes for consistent design, and leverage features like Flexbox and CSS Grid for responsive layouts. * **Dynamic Content and Custom Fields:** * Integrating dynamic content from custom post types and custom field plugins (like ACF, Meta Box, and even built-in fields) to build data-driven websites. * **Component Building:** * Creating and managing reusable components for headers, footers, post type layouts, and other site-wide elements. * **Performance Optimization:** * Understanding how Etch contributes to fast-loading websites and implementing performance best practices. * **Advanced Features:** * Depending on the class level, it might delve into advanced topics such as conditional logic, interactions, and custom code integration to enable more complex functionality. The series aims to equip participants with the skills to efficiently build, customize, and maintain WordPress websites using Etch, catering to both beginners and experienced web developers alike.

Central Ohio Radio Enthusiasts—CORE—is an informal community for anyone enthusiastic or curious about radio—whether you're new to radio and want to learn or you've been tinkering for years and want to share. Ham radio operators, GMRS users, Meshtastic fans, software-defined radio nerds, makers, and technical and non-technical folks are all welcome. No experience required or expected. This month we have **WiFi HaLow: Introduction and Practical Use** with **Alex Barbur**. Details are are [core.radio](https://core.radio).

**PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT NOTES:** 1. The dates for this series are simply placeholders at the moment. We are working on our 2026 schedule, and adjustments are forthcoming. 2. Each class in this series has an attendance fee. 3. Each class from BOTH a sign-up and fee perspective is a separate entity. **Introduction:** Our Page Building with Bricks web development class provides detailed instruction for using Bricks Builder, a visual site builder for WordPress, to create and manage websites. Widely considered by many of the world's leading web developers to be the most complete page builder on the market today, Bricks Builder offers a wide range of features and comprehensive tools. Our Bricks Builder web development class provides detailed instructions on utilizing the toolset. The series of courses covers the core features of Bricks Builder, enabling users to design and develop responsive, visually appealing websites. Moreover, the courses are oriented to reinforce a focus on professional, scalable web development. Throughout the series, we focus our page-building instruction on the semantic and structural integrity of the pages in a responsive world. By the end of the 10-class series, participants will have a fundamental understanding of proper web page and website development. **The breakdown of the 10-class series is as follows:** * Class 01 - Survey of Page Builders / What Bricksbuilder Does For You * Class 02 - Boxes, Boxes, Boxes / Sections / Containers * Class 03 - Static Units / Relative Units / Responsive Development And Math Functions * Class 04 - CSS Variables And DRY Development / Classes And Global Styling * Class 05 - CSS Grid And CSS Flexbox * Class 06 - Responsive Development / Breakpoints And Media Queries * Class 07 - Effective Use Of Color / Effective Use Of Images * Class 08 - Beginning To Think Dynamically / Using Templates And Components * Class 09 - Dynamic Styling / Data Attributes And Attribute Selectors * Class 10 - Pseudo Elements / Programmatically Styling With Pseudo Classes Throughout the class sessions listed above, we cover the following key areas of web development with Bricks Builder: * **Introduction to Bricks Builder Interface:** * Familiarization with the builder's layout, including the toolbar, panel, and canvas, and understanding how to navigate and interact with its various components. * **Visual Site Building:** * Techniques for creating layouts using Bricks' drag-and-drop interface, incorporating sections, rows, columns, and elements to build page structures. * **Styling and Design:** * Utilizing Bricks' styling options to customize elements, apply global CSS classes for consistent design, and leverage features like Flexbox and CSS Grid for responsive layouts. * **Dynamic Content and Custom Fields:** * Integrating dynamic content from custom post types and custom field plugins (like ACF, Meta Box) to build data-driven websites. * **Template Building:** * Creating and managing reusable templates for headers, footers, post type layouts, and other site-wide elements. * **Performance Optimization:** * Understanding how Bricks Builder contributes to fast-loading websites and implementing performance best practices. * **Advanced Features:** * Depending on the class level, it might delve into advanced topics such as conditional logic, interactions, and custom code integration to enable more complex functionality. The series aims to equip participants with the skills to efficiently build, customize, and maintain WordPress websites using Bricks Builder, catering to both beginners and experienced web developers.

Bring your Raspberry Pi, Arduino, microcontroller, or any other electronic project and join fellow electronics makers for a night of creativity and collaboration! This session is open forum to share your current projects—whether complete or in progress, it’s all interesting! Whether you’re deep into embedded systems, exploring new ideas, or just getting started, you’ll find a welcoming space to collaborate, share, and get inspired. **New to electronics or curious about tinkering?** You’re absolutely welcome. If you’re a beginner and want to experiment, I’ll have a couple of starter kits available so you can try things out—whether that’s blinking your first LED, putting something on a display, or experimenting with simple sensors. No pressure and no experience required—just an interest in learning and building. While we continue to pursue a more permanent venue for this Meetup, we’ll be using public library facilities based on availability. This session will be at the Worthington Park Library in the Olentangy Meeting Room.